Blessings on the Summer Solstice Paul 😀 Solstice begins today and the weather here is just stunning.
I’m so with you on this, so over the damage of alcohol, over the beatings, the killings, the child abuse, the bullying, the rapes over everything that goes with it. People lose control of themselves in the most aggressive way and it’s horrid and they can’t even remember what happened the next day.
National was responsible for lowering the drinking age and allowing alcohol to be sold in supermarkets. Yes they are the enablers, and we wonder why we have such a drinking problem in NZ.
How much of our health budget goes towards drunks at A&E? Too much I’d say, and we wonder why our health system is being stretched.
We see glamorous advertising on the TV, flyers in the newspaper and letter boxes and then it’s in our face right next to the fruit and vege at New World. Shameless promotion of the national parties class B drug of choice, readily available to so many. Paul Henry on the fucken TV swilling it down before 9am, what a fucken hero not. Excuse language but it’s something I feel very strongly about. Am not anti alcohol I’m anti drunk idiots, big difference.
Good on you Dr Bonning for speaking out and good on the Herald and Stuff for giving it coverage.
I’m anti alcohol.
It is a destructive drug which we promote at our peril.
Imagine if we saw advertisements for other Class B Drugs.
We should be tackling it the way Portugal tackles hard drugs.
It should be legal – but that’s about all.
Personally I’m not into drinking, I don’t like not being in control of my own body, I don’t have a drinking problem never have. And it’s funny because so many people become shocked that I don’t drink, like I’m a weirdo. It’s like oh she must be an alcoholic if she doesn’t drink.. um no it just makes me on to it.
Freedom of choice with loads of education is so important. And because I don’t drink my kids are anti alcohol, helps to show them the drunks on the telly in the big cities. Kids are smart, even they can’t fathom why everyone drinks. One time when the kids were with their dad (ex husband) at a bbq my youngest almost drowned, because yarning with a friend while drinking beers was more important than keeping an eye on the kids in the pool.
However I won’t lie I do smoke pot and my drink of choice at a party is a cuppa tea. Yes I rock on up with my teabags and milk, even at the biker parties. Funny thing is the bikers never give me a hard time about preferring to drink tea rather than booze. Ironic really.
Yes, I think when I say I don’t drink, people must either assume I have a drink problem, ….. or, most noticeably, they seem to treat me as a socially/religiously conservative, up-tight person.
I’m not religious, and reckon I’m pretty strong on fairly strongly left-wing on social policies and social issues.
ikr and it’s nutters, you don’t drink dang something wrong with us, i’d call it intelligence 😀 Hey I’ll tell you something funny Carolyn, sometimes my friends ring to ask me to come and pick them up cause they are too drunk to drive. I relish this… am so cheeky.
I rock on up and loudly announce that the ‘cougar taxi’ is here, shit it’s funny.
C’mon Paul, national Mp’s including former PM shonky have extensive financial interests in wineries and probably shares in the big brewers etc so that’s never happening while they remain in govt.
Even if they did, they’d be reimbursing or compensating those effected with other taxpayer subsidies ensuring personal gain using public resources…a well worn theme with national.
How about the hospitals charge the cost of treating alcohol related injuries to the alcohol industry.
A fund could be set up paid for by the alcohol industry for hospitals to claim back the costs of treatment. Sort of like hospital do with accidents and the ACC
Stop all advertising for alcohol.
Start Public Education Programme and publicise heath warnings ( eg alcohol is a carcinogen)
More counselling services to assist with issues that caused alcohol addictions
Stop supermarket sales
Raise taxes – as has been done with cigarettes
Plain packaging of alcohol
Make it illegal for foreign companies to have a share in any alcohol sale in New Zealand – to make it harder for governments to be lobbied by massive corporate interests
Divest all government savings and funds from investing in liquor.
Cut funding for sports that continue to take drug money.
Aim to make alcohol ‘uncool’ as smoking has become.
And most importantly, deal to the economic system that makes people so in need of a class b drug.
Cinny
But thinking of it as a now problem where the hospital staff are working at the drunkface, and the financial problems that the booze causes the administration, a special tax on booze that gets paid to hospitals to aid staff and provide security and repair booze-nut damage would be good. http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11770517
Then of course there is the treatment of booze damaged people who become a blot on society after they have spoiled their own lives and family relationships. That is a cost to hospitals and the health budget of the nation.
Then there is my observation that killing people with a car after you have had a drink or two is not treated as seriously as shooting, knifing someone personally. Recidivist drink drivers are a menace to society and there should be prison farms where they are confined and can work to help support themselves away from temptation where they should be able to have a happy life and society be safe instead of society being co-dependent.
1. Attempts to regulate the liquor industry properly have been frustrated by the government. The main recommendations from an enquiry were completed ignored.
2. Saturation advertising tends to make ‘citizens’ want alcohol.
Attitudes to cigarettes have changed without the marketing propaganda.
Attitudes to cigarettes have changed because these days people won’t put up with other people blowing smoke all over them and stinking the place up, and because cigarettes make you die – not because the government banned their advertising, much as the government might want to take the credit for it.
Also, cigarettes are a classic example of what happens when the government lets hand-wringers persuade it to over-regulate and over-tax a recreational drug: we’re now seeing armed robberies and a black market specifically for cigarettes. Let’s learn from that debacle and not follow the same path with alcohol.
Maybe people are also sick of drunks punching them and raping them.
Alcohol also kills people . It is a high level carcinogen and causes cirrhosis of the liver for starters.
I’m amazed you don’t think advertisements influence people. I wonder why corporates spend so much on them.
I sense you are just being a contrarian for the sake of it.
I don’t debate with climate change deniers and I won’t wSte my breath on someone talking the bs you are about alcohol.
Maybe people are also sick of drunks punching them and raping them.
We have a criminal justice system to deal with people who commit crimes. If you have complaints about it, that’s for another post because it’s another subject.
Alcohol also kills people . It is a high level carcinogen and causes cirrhosis of the liver for starters.
If you drink enough of it, sure. The same is true for a lot of food and drink, and the best advice is not to consume enormous quantities of things. Cigarettes are in an entirely different category: they’ll kill you when used as directed.
I’m amazed you don’t think advertisements influence people.
Of course advertisements influence people. I just think you’re overstating the level of influence.
PM did you know that at least a third of all police recorded offences are committed by an offender who has consumed alcohol prior to committing the offence.
But don’t let the facts get in the way of your argument.
How are facts about alcohol and crime misused?
How are facts about alcohol and sexual abuse misused?
How are facts about alcohol and hospital usage being misused?
How are facts about alcohol and violence being misused?
Do you work for the liquor drug industry or have you benefited from their largesse?
It contains an implied argument:
Premise: It is a fact that a third of crime is committed by people who are drunk.
Conclusion: therefore, alcohol is responsible for a third of crime and something must be done about alcohol.
My comment demonstrates the misuse by providing a more-obviously-wrong example of the fallacy:
Premise: it is a fact that nearly half of crime is committed by people who are Maori.
Conclusion: therefore, Maori are responsible for nearly half the crime and something must be done about Maori.
Do you often struggle to understand the meanings of people’s arguments?
Psycho Milt – the fallacy you describe is one I witness often around the council table. I wonder how well your explanation is received by Paul et al as providing it to my fellow councillors has been an exercise in futility; can those who use it, get their heads around the reasoning? I just don’t know. Maybe Paul’s response will show.
@ Robert.
PM is a ‘sophisticated drinker’ and ‘personally responsible’.
Far be it for others to lecture him on why we should tighten up on liquor laws because ‘others’ (probably a majority) aren’t as sophisticated as he is.
It’s probably pointless debating with a ‘respectable’ pisshead anyway.
I just saw one in the supermarket (a Nat MP of high profile). He came complete with hangers-on – one with a walkie talkie heading for the wine racks ffs!
I’m not sure what happens though when the entire population of people that consume alcohol claim to be ‘sophisticated drinkers’ and are ‘personally responsible’.
Probably not much different from now – it’s everybody else that’s the problem……….and we get to nowehere.
We once had a 6 o’clock swill. Not much has changed really except we’ve shifted it to the early hours of the morning
The government agreeing with industry lobbyists rather than anti-alcohol lobbyists over increased restrictions on the sale of alcohol also isn’t what I’d call “support.” If Collins had decided the other way and increased restrictions on the sale of alcohol, would that mean the government was “supporting” anti-alcohol activists?
PM.. whom has done the enabling?
The National Party, they are the ones that lowered the drinking age and allowed alcohol in supermarkets.
Class B legal drug it is. Whom allows promotion of it via advertising etc… the national party. Whom does not want pot to be decrimilised because it might cut into the profits of their legal class B drug… the national party.
PM are you an enabler? Do you condone the violence, the rape, murder, the abuse of children and others and the abuse of hospital staff? The national party does, otherwise they would have taken action rather than making alcohol more accessible.
I wonder how many alcohol related beatings there will be this Christmas? Are you ok with that PM? If not what do you suggest, or are you reliant on the alcohol so are anti anything being done about it?
Remove all alcohol advertising
Remove alcohol from supermarkets
PM.. whom has done the enabling?
The National Party, they are the ones that lowered the drinking age and allowed alcohol in supermarkets.
Pedant corner: “Who” has done the enabling – no ‘m’ on the end.
Yes, those are among the few things the National Party has managed to get right, and much appreciated by the nation’s drinkers (ie, most of the country). How is that a problem?
Class B legal drug it is. Whom allows promotion of it via advertising etc… the national party. Whom does not want pot to be decrimilised because it might cut into the profits of their legal class B drug… the national party.
Er, the National Party and the overwhelming majority of the country’s voters. I don’t care much about the advertising, other than that, as a general principle we should avoid imposing restrictions on people unless there are compelling reasons for it, but there is no political party outside of the Muslim countries that could propose criminalising alcohol and expect to be elected to government.
PM are you an enabler? Do you condone the violence, the rape, murder, the abuse of children and others and the abuse of hospital staff? … etc
PM i have been a beaten wife so pull your fucken head in for starts. Ever been kidnapped? How about having a gun or a knife held to your head? Have you been kicked in the face by steelcaps because you left a cup on the table.. I have. Yeah take the piss out of domestic violence why don’t ya.
And you know what more power to me for getting through that. I don’t usually bring that up to anyone, my story, but seeing you mentioned it above, i thought i would.
I don’t want to criminalize alcohol, I just want people to wake the fuck up at the damage it does and find some better ways to deal with what is obviously a massive problem in this country.
You can turn a blind eye all you want, but that still does naught to solve the issue.
So what do you suggest is done about NZs alcohol problem and the abuse A&E among others are suffering?
So what do you suggest is done about NZs alcohol problem and the abuse A&E among others are suffering?
For a start, we could stop blaming alcohol for the actions of people. “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been drunk” is no more relevant to consideration of someone’s actions than “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been angry/greedy/misogynist/you-name-it.”
Re the specific A&E problems, until we get people to stop thinking alcohol excuses their behaviour (which we’ve managed pretty successfully with drunk driving) we just have to fork out for security guards in A&E and make sure anyone who gets abusive or violent to paramedics or A&E staff gets prosecuted aggressively and sentenced accordingly. I’d be happy to see attacking or interfering with a paramedic or A&E worker counted as a severe aggravating factor at sentencing. It would be good if we started treating intoxication as an aggravating rather than mitigating factor as well.
So, Psycho Milt – no controls over the supply of alcohol or its promotion?
Would you regard other behaviour changing drugs in the same way you do alcohol ( “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been baked”)?
…no controls over the supply of alcohol or its promotion?
Wouldn’t go that far, but we already have plenty and certainly don’t need any more.
Would you regard other behaviour changing drugs in the same way you do alcohol ( “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been baked”)?
Some drugs have more of a case to be made, eg they can induce hallucinations or psychosis. I’m dubious about disavowing agency even in those cases, though – if someone goes on a “P-fuelled rampage,” they’re pushing it uphill if they want to claim they had no idea that was a potential outcome of taking P.
“…we don’t need any more.” Agreed. Further regulation will drive the issue further into the public realm where individuals make their decisions. Do they need assistance to make those? Should we weaken the arm of the industry devoted to profiting from alcohol sales? It has to go somewhere.
Re: “…they want to claim they had no idea that was a potential outcome of taking P” – decisions made at that juncture are difficult to tie to responsibility, I reckon. It’s such a vexed topic, this. Best to go for the most effective actions with regard the hoped-for outcome.
“Re the specific A&E problems, until we get people to stop thinking alcohol excuses their behaviour (which we’ve managed pretty successfully with drunk driving) we just have to fork out for security guards in A&E and make sure anyone who gets abusive or violent to paramedics or A&E staff gets prosecuted aggressively and sentenced accordingly. I’d be happy to see attacking or interfering with a paramedic or A&E worker counted as a severe aggravating factor at sentencing. It would be good if we started treating intoxication as an aggravating rather than mitigating factor as well.”
I think that is a great idea, when i was a volunteer fireman a couple of us had to hold down a drunk aggressive driver who was trying to pull the ambos off a patient with a back injury. He had driven at pedestrians on the footpath, hit a power pole and badly injured one of his passengers.
Faaaaaaaaaaark!
” I’d be happy to see attacking or interfering with a paramedic or A&E worker counted as a severe aggravating factor at sentencing. It would be good if we started treating intoxication as an aggravating rather than mitigating factor as well.”
There’s something we agree on.
But then how would you deal with PM? – the ‘sophisticated drinker’?
You keep putting “sophisticated drinker” in quotation marks as though it were a claim I’d made, which it isn’t. That’s effectively a lie, and you should stop doing it.
Alcohol has an effect on the actions of people and so does anger, greed, misogyny etc.
The difference is that alcohol is something people consume (willingly or unwillingly) but anger, greed and misogyny are already inside them and outside influences can only change what is already there.
Alcohol consumption due to addiction or peer pressure, in my opinion is a mitigating factor in people’s harmful actions because it weakens willpower.
Interestingly, I know people who say that as free individuals they do what they like and yet drink excessively.
Cinny – you should know that the question, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” (regardless of what you have lived through) was always the standard example quoted by English teachers of a leading question, which condemns the replier even before he/she answers. That is the only reason Psycho Milt used it.
Your response is as unsatisfactory as the leading questions you asked.
In Vino (how apt is that name for this discussion in vino – in wine truth – sounds like someone enjoys the vino)
Are you beating your wife? How is one supposed to respond to that if one is unaware of such a quote to start with? Shame on me for not knowing everything, I’ve never heard of that ‘have you stopped beating your wife’ thing before, but hey i guess i’ve learned something.
Thanks for explaining it to me In Vino, at least someone took the time to do it
Maybe any one whom loves the booze would have found any of my questions and responses unsatisfactory. JS
The health professionals say they’ve had enough of boozers at the hospital clogging up the A&E and I say that putting security in there to help protect the staff is like putting a plaster on cancer.
Goodness me they are talking about the drunks again on the wireless this morning, it’s still topical and obviously a problem in NZ.
Yes Cinny, I do enjoy some vino without beating up medicos..
Didn’t mean to shame you, but you had come on so hard. Sorry.
For those who do the dugs, alcohol, violence, I suspect that restricting alcohol access in whatever way will achieve nothing. There are other social factors that have been wrecking us for many years – these people need hope and a belief in a positive future. Fiddling the price of alcohol will be an empty gesture.
I say that putting security in there to help protect the staff is like putting a plaster on cancer.
And increased restrictions on alcohol is like putting a carcinogenic plaster on a cancer. I proposed putting security guards in A&E as a temporary measure to provide some immediate relief; fixing the “cancer” involves refusing to blame alcohol for the actions of people. Your proposed solution would actually make the “cancer” worse, in that it puts the blame for people’s actions squarely on alcohol.
Apologies for the use of the phrase “Have you stopped beating your wife?” to reject your trap questions. It’s such a standard debating term I use it without thinking about how it would make a victim of domestic violence feel – which looks stupid now I write it down. I’ll think of another phrase to use in future.
PM & In Vino, thanks for your replies, there is something we can all agree on, too many are suffering due to booze and something needs to change. Its a matter i obviously feel passionate about, have seen too much misery due to booze across all walks of life. But hey i have learnt something from your comments, am always trying to look for a silver linings 😀
In the mean time over the silly season could you all do me a favour, if you see or hear abuse please take action, dont walk by or turn a blind eye. Because it does save lives, it really does and there are psycho abusive women out there as well as men, so many chicks go mental on the booze.
I honestly feel that many problems carry on because so many turn a blind eye, one time i dropped the glass bottle of milk i was carrying when walking home with him, he beat me on the side of the road, people just walked or drove past, no one stopped, and ive never felt so helpless as i did that day. And the really messed up thing, it was in a very well to do area, not all abusers are the stereotype people think they are.
I am lucky my abuser is dead, but i still react a bit strangely when certain things happen something i usually remember to keep in check. Apologies if my words were to strong in the comments above. Bit of a tender spot for me it is.
Okies better change the tune its getting a bit morbid.
Have a fun holiday season, the weather here today is stunning, may it be a wonderful summer where you are too. If you are ever in Motueka and see a chick chalking the sidewalk, come say hi.
Happy Solstice and Seasons Greetings 😀
I remember back then when the Supermarkets were first allowed to sell Liquor, restrictions regarding advertising and discounting were put in place.
Have they been repealed?
If you come to a supermarket you get bombarded with displays announcing “specials” and often the product is not separated from the food areas.
I was under the impression that there is also a time restriction and who is policing that?
This is like a sick joke, 100% access for all – the $ for the private business speaks louder than the carnage that is left for the taxpayer to pick up the costs. A true case of corporate welfare.
Challenges blind worshipers at the altar of Christmas Consumerism to put the planet and their children’s future first….capitalism will be the end of us.
“It’s getting beyond urgent but, hey, let’s all have a cutesy cultural norm of a festive season. The economy depends on it, and the unequal wealth generated from it needs to be distributed to the usual suspects. Growth, growth, growth!
While you’re sitting around the tucker table and raising a glass to family, all misty-eyed about how much you care about future generations, raise the subject of just how serious climate change is becoming. How the Arctic ice is melting as quickly as the ice cream left out of the freezer by Uncle Bob. See how that conversation goes down.”
Rachel Stewart is superb.
We need more fearless writers like her to challenge what we are doing.
Here is another excellent excerpt.
‘Because here we are in 2016. The planet is burning in front of our eyes but we’re still going to buy those gifts, damn it! Because the world’s a grim and depressing place, so shut up and let me do this for strangers, as well as friends and family. I want to make them smile. Don’t judge me!
But I am going to judge you, and judge you hard. Strap yourself in.
If you’re not consciously thinking about this stuff, then you’re part of the problem.
Study after study shows that consumption now dwarfs population as the main environmental threat on earth.
Indeed, most of the extra consumption has so far been – but is rapidly changing – in wealthy countries that have long since stopped adding substantial numbers to their population. Like us.
Moreover, is it making anybody happy? Will those carefully wrapped presents in all their plastic glory keep anyone deeply delighted for more than an hour or two? Let’s be honest with ourselves.
Sure, I get that you want to please your kids but, really? Is this the way to go? Is there not an argument for opting out of this madness and telling them why?’
garibaldi
I dont need champagne, I know that was just an expression of joy in having a festive season and I agree with you. We have dreadful problems to face but if we face them by becoming grim and grinding down and refusing to have laughter, friendship, attempting to be kind to our annoying relations and looking to come together and enjoy the others, what is worth living for?
Take the opportunity to give them a subscription to the New Internationalist magazine, to Greenpeace, a bar of chocolate. a lovely mat. a jute shopping bag all from Trade Aid, buy them a pack of Trade Aid tea from the supermarket.
But keep being human and kind, not human and slightly vicious as we can find ourselves being so quickly, and so differently than our own understanding of ourselves. Everyone has a nasty side that gets managed but be aware, and have a look at it after the gift-giving and do something next year to help us all in the near future, and look at our beautiful planet, the colour of flowers, the delicacy of leaves, the kindness of strangers, the innocence of little toddlers trying to walk and help to give them something to walk to.
Sorry to butt in marty mars, but surely we should be asking ‘why did you opt in to this madness?’ rather than accept the default setting of ‘do christmas or forever be labelled as super grinch?
Rachel Stewart is asking (and I do well understand what reaction this provokes) for folk to think carefully about why they are buying into this seasonal shit.
Because, when you think about it…its really stupid.
Well I’m not a Christian or a follower of Santa. I do like the equinox and the coming together of family – so we celebrate ??? something anyway. The last 2 days the 2 year old has been playing a lot with a bit of cardboard on a small slope – doesn’t take much if the intent is there.
I just don’t buy stuff. But that’s agreed within my family. There’s nothing my family members are in need of. I do attend a family Christmas meal – though not always on Xmas Day – tis on the 24th this year. Is usually catered by my bro and his wife.
In return (kind of) I usually donate something to the City Mission (in December and during the winter) – there are people more in need of give-aways than my family.
I’m glad to read Stewart also doesn’t like secret Santa – I thought I was alone in that.
And, yes agreed again with Stewart – need to do more to work/fight for a non-consumerist type of society, and for a sustainable environment in the age of life-threatening climate change.
Pompous moralising consumes precious oxygen and produces greenhouse gases. Would you consider smirking smugly while I pick at my own special lentil trifle as an acceptable rebuke to my less virtuous relatives?
I just don’t think I’m pompous and selfrighteous enough. If I sat on a pointy stick and practised making ‘poffpoff’ noises would my rellies be more convinced of my rightness?
I just don’t think I’m pompous and selfrighteous enough.
Actually, that’s exactly what you are as you dismiss reality and the damage that we’re doing by trying to use ad hominems. It’s the I’m right, you’re wrong BS that we always get from those too stupid to accept that the status quo is wrong.
This article explains how identity politics divides us into smaller groups with limited power. We need to UNITE as the exploited to tackle the problems of exploitation of both people and the environment. In the coming election year we need to spend less time arguing about subtle differences between the groups of the exploited and combine our resources more effectively.
Yesterday there was much media attention on Bill English’s “not a feminist” statement and Paula Bennett’s “most days a feminist” one. In the meantime, the still homeless, the Pike River families, the foreign students who have been defrauded, those trying to get on a waiting list for hospital operations, those looking after disabled family members 24/7, those struggling to pay rising rents, etc… remain in their desperate states. Instead of taking the attitude of ” well I don’t care about that because it doesn’t directly affect me” , we need to stick together and say ” this is yet another example of exploitation from a government which introduced a tax system which further advantaged the poor, and one which touts tourism as a great earner while encouraging farming practices which are rapidly degrading the very environment that attracts tourists. We need to call exploitation whatever the target.
It’s not racism that creates the difference between classes; it’s capitalism. And it’s not anti-racism that can combat the difference; it’s socialism. We’re frequently told that black poverty is worse than white poverty—more isolating, more concentrated—and maybe that’s true. But why, politically, should it matter? You don’t build the left by figuring out which victim has been most victimized; you build it by organizing all the victims. When it comes to the value of universal health care, for example, we don’t need to worry for a second about whether the black descendants of slaves are worse off than the white descendants of coal miners. The goal is not to make sure that black people are no sicker than white people; it’s to make everybody healthy. That’s why they call it universal.
Progressive parties forgot ( were too scared/too compromised ?) to focus on economic and class issues and instead focused on identity politics.
The result – 30 plus years of neoliberal economics , with all the ensuing social issues.
That ‘analysis’ is flawed paul – change your lens. The rise of neoliberalism is a direct result of leftish parties being SUCKED in to the economic debate – as if it is the be all and end all. You have it completely wrong and round the rong way too.
Anyone in the thick of ‘identity politics’ knows it is never a them or us scenario and it isn’t the oppression olymipics either – those concepts are used to deride ‘identity politics’ whether by the right, the economic pointy heads, those that think class is everything or at least the main thing and other assorted lefties, righties and centreees and so on. Always reminds me of, “Hey guys let’s work as a team and do it my way”
Yes. And as I said yesterday, there’s more than one kind of feminism.
And critiques of some vague, misinformed notion of “identity politics” don’t get to define other people’s feminist views and politics.
The caricature of feminism that is invoked by anti-identity politics folk, is more that of “liberal feminism”
Judith Collins yesterday said her feminist influences were Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem – puts her in the ranks of liberal feminists. They tend to want equality within the existing capitalist and patriarchal system – usually through changes to the law.
radical feminism – though contrary to that definition, some radical feminists also agree with Marxist critiques of society.
and more. Some people probably are more social democratic feminists.
Basically, feminism tends not to stand out on its own separated from other kinds of politics. Feminists also tend to have other political views that are integrated with their feminist values and politics.
Capitalism was built on the backs (and lands and resources) of black and brown bodies, as well as those of the white working classes.
Racism, initially in the form of imperialism/colonisation and chattel slavery, was intertwined with the growth of capitalism. And that legacy has been repeated from generation to generation.
I wrote a bit about that, as happened in the US, in my 2 part review of the TV mini-series “Roots”.
The abolition of slavery was replaced by what often was referred to as “wage slavery”, with a large number of young black men, and some poor white men, in the south of the US, working for little money in harsh, prison-like conditions. A high proportion of black such men ended up in prison. There they became cheap labour for the developing enterprises of the rapid industrialisation of the US, and the rise of capitalism (Fraser, pp. 50-3).
“And while young African American males languished in industrial and agricultural prison camps, black women (if they weren’t also working in prisons, sometimes as unpaid prostitutes), once the helpmates of their husbands on small family plots, found work instead as wage earners in canning and tobacco factories, as domestics, in mechanized laundries and textile mills, and in the fields.” (Fraser, p.53)
High unemployment was a frightening reality. The US’s early phases of industrialisation developed on the backs and bodies of the poor, a high proportion of them being black people.
“… 35,000 workers died each year in industrial accidents, many of them skilled mechanics.…
“The bones of thousands of workmen were encased in the concrete of dams and bridges…” (Fraser, pp. 56-57)
Basically, if your into the oppression olympics, it can be argued that imperialism and colonisation and chattel slavery preceded and enabled capitalism – that it laid the foundation for capitalism.
“This results in George being sold to an Englishman, and taken to England for over 20 years, leaving behind his wife Matilda (Erica Tazel) and several children.”
That simple sentence sums up so much of the destruction of people, their families and all they hold important. So much contained within one sentence.
I always thought slavery/racism against POC, was designed in those times, to ensure profits for the South. When the war finished the profits had to continue as best they could thus wage slavery and the various other ways to get work from someone for nothing began in earnest.
Yes, chattel slavery (where the slave and his/her life was totally owned ) was replaced by wage slavery – but also by cheap prison labour, of which African-Americans made up a high proportion of the imprisoned. That prison labour was a significant part of the building of US capitalism.
And that legacy continues today with the high proportion of African-Americans in 21st century prisons.
And that destruction of families and things of value in people’s lives was a huge consequence of the the drive for wealth and power by the US dominant classes.
I agree with all that is being said…but have doubts that the organisation SR works for actually follows the same philosophy.
We all have a ‘group’ we identify with, whose particular needs dictate the lens through which we see and hear a conversation.
Wearing our ‘disability community hats’ rather than our ‘pay family carers of disabled people’ hats we attended a meeting in Auckland a while ago organised by PSA and Auckland Disability Law.
PSA were very concerned about the rights of care workers employed by disabled people using individulalised Funding. Employers could just ‘fire’ a worker for little or no good reason and hence these workers’ rights needed ‘protecting’ from their disabled employers.
PSA, it seemed, had not considered the vulnerability of a disabled person who employs someone in good faith, then discovers they are not suitable for the work. These workers are coming into the disabled person’s home and performing care tasks of an extremely intimate nature and PSA seemed to be insisting that if there are problems then the disabled employer should be reasonable and give that employee another chance and let them work out their notice.
I am not sure that I was able to explain just how unreasonable and potentially dangerous this stance was for the person with the disability…forced to use IF, and hence become an employer, by virtue of the fact that the services through Contracted Providers were so poor and inflexible.
For all the PSA, and other unions have their roots firmly in the political struggle for workers rights, it had not occurred to PSA that Government policy had created the situation where a union was defending the rights of workers against people with significant impairments dependent of others for their most basic of care.
That looks to be yet another instance of divide-and-rule, the thing that neoliberal governments are so good at. The problem seems to be the IF model, which pits the PSA, whose obligation is to advocate for workers, against the disabled and their advocates who must take the part of the employers. Solidarity would involve collectively challenging the IF model, but the disabled themselves might not have a unified attitude here – some might feel as if the IF model allows their concerns to be taken seriously at long last, while others might see it as making demands they are ill-equipped to meet. As long as people are stuck with the IF model, the next best solution is for both sides to actually listen to each other, avoid talking past each other and engage in good faith negotiation. You do not want workers thrown onto the scrap-heap, but you do not want the disabled employers being terrified of visits from their so-called employees either.
“You do not want workers thrown onto the scrap-heap, but you do not want the disabled employers being terrified of visits from their so-called employees either.”
No, you do not want disabled people terrified of visits from their caregivers, nor do you want carers thrown on the scrap heap.
The caregiver is secondary in this situation.
The thing that gets me is the latest bid by, I think PSA, to have guaranteed hours of work for home based carers. The very nature of the work is casual and often finite. If a carer want set hours and stable work and a predictable future then they should go and work in one of the hundreds of residential facilities.
There is no shortage of care work, be it in facilities or private homes, for well trained, competent, honest, reliable and above all respectful carers.
IF was born out if what was called ‘Discretionary Funding’, and what is known elsewhere as ‘Personal Budget” Most suited for those who need more flexibility around what is done for them and when.
It soon became the default option for those with high and very high and complex care needs…the clients that the Contracted providers can decline to support…usually because they do not have staff with the right level of expertise…and hiring such workers would undermine their profit margin.
It would be an absolutely fantastic scheme for many disabled people if there were not so many conditions on how one can use the funds.
Ideally, the Miserly of Health should have said… “here’s $1500 per week….sort your own shit out and bother us no more.” But no, they just had to say you can’t pay this person and you must do that…the whole scheme is unreasonably complex.
Then the unions jump in to protect ‘at risk’ workers and the very people who need a flexible way of sourcing the care that is vital to them are too scared to take up IF in case they end up in the Employment Court because they had to fire some fuckwit who turned up in the morning off their face from the previous night’s partying.
Even the attempt to modify IF through what is called “Enhanced IF” has largely been a failure. I would put up a link to the evaluation report, but I can’t be bothered.
You see, it’s all very well saying “avoid talking past each other and engage in good faith negotiation.” when it is the person with the disability who is going to be forced to compromise…again.
And on a personal note…I was unimpressed to read that unions were concerned that if family carers were allowed to be paid as any other person doing the same work it would take employment away from those currently doing the work.
Again…one group fighting for their rights not being supported, in fact being actively opposed by another group purporting to be defending the rights of others.
one group fighting for their rights not being supported, in fact being actively opposed by another group purporting to be defending the rights of others.
It all gets very complicated…
Everything you say highlights the difficulties involved in establishing real solidarity, especially given that the two groups you are talking about – disabled people and their caregivers – both have very limited rights in the first place.
Ironman competitor Cameron Brown has been attacked on social media after publicly supporting disgraced footballer Richie McCaw.
McCaw arrived in Auckland on Sunday and met with Brown for a kick around in an Auckland park.
Brown took his son on the ride and posted a photo of the trio on Facebook, to which he was heavily trolled for his involvement with McCaw.
“Well I am disappointed for you Cam in my view it tarnishes your achievements and he shouldn’t be validated by association with you. You grafted hard for everything you achieved you should protect that,” one follower commented.
“Sorry Cam. But he was a relentless cheat. The way he and his team-mates ruined our memory of the 2011 RWC final with his cheating is possibly even worse than the way they cheated their opponents,” added another. “Cheat not to be looked up to.”
However, not all were bad, with many people simply commenting on the meeting as “awesome”.
Brown spoke of his admiration for McCaw on NewstalkZB, in spite of the ex-captain’s low reputation in France.
“I watched him for 10 years competing in the All Blacks and it was quite incredible to kick with him,” Brown said. “I’d never met him before so it was pretty special. My little boy’s getting into rugby now so I took him along and Richie was great. I think he’s probably just trying to forget about the past and move on. And hopefully rugby fans can forgive him but probably there’s a lot of people—especially in France—that can’t.”
However, the reaction to Brown and McCaw’s meeting drew severe reaction online, resulting in the Ironman withdrawing from a scheduled interview with Mike “Contra” Hosking this morning.
Not the end of the story re 2011. The French have not forgotten, and neither have people in New Zealand who actually care for the integrity of the game.
The “drubbing” of France in that disgraceful capitulation last year was nothing less than a joke. You noticed perhaps that France did not even compete?
Is Prince William in line for that 8:30-to-noon spot at NewstalkZB?
Actually, compared to Leighton Smith, the prince is a silver-tongued devil.
Tribute to Michael Phelps at the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
Loud applause, whistling, clapping….
GARY LINEKER: Uh, firstly, er, Your Highness, er, I’m sure you’d like to say a few words on behalf of everyone here, in fact everyone in the country.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Thank you Gary. Uh, it’s a huge honour for me to be here this evening, ahhh, on what has been a, an incredible memorable year for, for sports. Ahhhh, it’s also a particular privilege to be here tonight Michael, ahhhh, to give you your lifetime achievement award. Ahhh, you’re one of the greatest sporting icons, ahh, this world has ever had and, ahh, your twenty-three gold medals —never mind all the other colours!— [supportive cluck from woman in audience]…. ahhhmm, uh, pales into, uh, sheer superhuman history.
Uh, you should be so proud of your achievements and it’ll be many, many years before, if ever, anyone stands here again and calls you the greatest, um, athlete in history. So, many, many congratulations and hopefully your retirement gives someone else a chance now!
“For the first time ever, scientists have observed the light spectrum of antimatter. ALPHA, an international collaboration based at CERN, made history by capturing a measurement of the optical spectrum of the 1S-2S transition in trapped antihydrogen. Progressing scientific techniques in this area will lead to more precision comparisons of antihydrogen and hydrogen, further illuminating the mysterious study area of antimatter. With this breakthrough from the ALPHA collaboration, a new era of research begins.”
Among the thousand-plus galaxies in the Coma cluster, a massive clump of matter some 300 million light-years away, is at least one — and maybe a few hundred — that shouldn’t exist.
Dragonfly 44 is a dim galaxy, with one star for every hundred in our Milky Way. But it spans roughly as much space as the Milky Way. In addition, it’s heavy enough to rival our own galaxy in mass, according to results published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters at the end of August. That odd combination is crucial: Dragonfly 44 is so dark, so fluffy, and so heavy that some astronomers believe it will either force a revision of our theories of galaxy formation or help us understand the properties of dark matter, the mysterious stuff that interacts with normal matter via gravity and not much else. Or both.
There’s exiting stuff being found through science.
A team of European scientists has identified a surprising new feature of the Earth’s outer core – a molten river of iron hundreds of kilometres wide that’s speeding deep beneath Russia and Canada.
Basically, earth’s magnetic field has been weakening over the centuries, and that field protects earth from the sun’s heat.
furthermore, eventually there will be a polarity reversal – the magnetic characteristics of the 2 poles changing place.
There was an interview on the radio with some rich ‘style queen’. She has been paid lots and lots of public money for the last 8 years to tell poor young people how to dress to get a job. She goes along to those boot camps which Paula B started and which young unemployed people have to go on or lose their benefit. They have no evidence base but are a good way to privatise public money. She is one who personally profits by getting paid some exorbitant rate.
I know some young people who have been on these camps. They are hard work and there is often misery and bullying. They endure them because they have no choice, but also there is that promise of a job at the end.
But there is never a job at the end and getting back on the benefit can be another battle. And instead of having quality clothing and styled hair as recommended by the rich lady they are doomed to WINZ vouchers for a cheap pair of trackpants at the Warehouse.
More drama about whether the FBI asking for a warrant to look for new Clinton e-mails days before the election was even legal or violated the Fourth Amendment.
“The warrant application seems to reflect a belief that any email sent by Hillary Clinton from a private email server is probably evidence of a crime,” Katkin said. “If so, then it must be seen as a partisan political act, rather than a legitimate law enforcement action.”
Unbelievable though it is, that is exactly what appears to have happened. Such criteria means that everyone of us who sends an email to anyone on our private servers – which most of us do on almost a daily basis – is therefore potentially guilty of committing crimes. I wonder sometimes if that traitorous act on the part of FBI Director, James Coney and his pals will eventually bring down the Trump administration.
The indicators of increasing community stress and displacement are all there. These stories are not going away, they are getting more frequent and worse and the Key/English National government have produced these outcomes, there is no doubt about it.
I wonder if this is their form of collateral damage in that they saw the once great New Zealand as too fair and were determined to bring it into line with a decadent and gross America.
Imagine what next winter is going to be like for some people in this country…
It’s what happens when the government gives all of the countries wealth to rich people. A few people become very well off while the rest suffer. We’ve seen this throughout history and the inevitable result is the collapse of society.
Oh, they want to “play a part in helping their community”. I bet they do. Increasing their portfolios and becoming increasingly wealthy would just be a fortuitous byproduct. Bless them.
I don’t see that there’s much to complain about, given he was caught long before he actually harmed anyone, and he gets called a white supremacist and KKK member very prominently.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
The government’s support of the liquor industry is costing us socially, financially and morally. Our lax laws on alcohol are destroying so many lives.
A strong and courageous government would tackle these booze barons and drug peddlers. Our mob sadly is beholden to them and takes their tainted money.
Again, another example of this country’s corrupt ‘elite’that defends international corporate power against the country’s citizens.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11770517
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/87785603/one-in-four-hospital-ed-admissions-related-to-alcohol
Blessings on the Summer Solstice Paul 😀 Solstice begins today and the weather here is just stunning.
I’m so with you on this, so over the damage of alcohol, over the beatings, the killings, the child abuse, the bullying, the rapes over everything that goes with it. People lose control of themselves in the most aggressive way and it’s horrid and they can’t even remember what happened the next day.
National was responsible for lowering the drinking age and allowing alcohol to be sold in supermarkets. Yes they are the enablers, and we wonder why we have such a drinking problem in NZ.
How much of our health budget goes towards drunks at A&E? Too much I’d say, and we wonder why our health system is being stretched.
We see glamorous advertising on the TV, flyers in the newspaper and letter boxes and then it’s in our face right next to the fruit and vege at New World. Shameless promotion of the national parties class B drug of choice, readily available to so many. Paul Henry on the fucken TV swilling it down before 9am, what a fucken hero not. Excuse language but it’s something I feel very strongly about. Am not anti alcohol I’m anti drunk idiots, big difference.
Good on you Dr Bonning for speaking out and good on the Herald and Stuff for giving it coverage.
I’m anti alcohol.
It is a destructive drug which we promote at our peril.
Imagine if we saw advertisements for other Class B Drugs.
We should be tackling it the way Portugal tackles hard drugs.
It should be legal – but that’s about all.
Personally I’m not into drinking, I don’t like not being in control of my own body, I don’t have a drinking problem never have. And it’s funny because so many people become shocked that I don’t drink, like I’m a weirdo. It’s like oh she must be an alcoholic if she doesn’t drink.. um no it just makes me on to it.
Freedom of choice with loads of education is so important. And because I don’t drink my kids are anti alcohol, helps to show them the drunks on the telly in the big cities. Kids are smart, even they can’t fathom why everyone drinks. One time when the kids were with their dad (ex husband) at a bbq my youngest almost drowned, because yarning with a friend while drinking beers was more important than keeping an eye on the kids in the pool.
However I won’t lie I do smoke pot and my drink of choice at a party is a cuppa tea. Yes I rock on up with my teabags and milk, even at the biker parties. Funny thing is the bikers never give me a hard time about preferring to drink tea rather than booze. Ironic really.
Yes, I think when I say I don’t drink, people must either assume I have a drink problem, ….. or, most noticeably, they seem to treat me as a socially/religiously conservative, up-tight person.
I’m not religious, and reckon I’m pretty strong on fairly strongly left-wing on social policies and social issues.
ikr and it’s nutters, you don’t drink dang something wrong with us, i’d call it intelligence 😀 Hey I’ll tell you something funny Carolyn, sometimes my friends ring to ask me to come and pick them up cause they are too drunk to drive. I relish this… am so cheeky.
I rock on up and loudly announce that the ‘cougar taxi’ is here, shit it’s funny.
LOL. She’s I’ve often been the designated driver.
C’mon Paul, national Mp’s including former PM shonky have extensive financial interests in wineries and probably shares in the big brewers etc so that’s never happening while they remain in govt.
Even if they did, they’d be reimbursing or compensating those effected with other taxpayer subsidies ensuring personal gain using public resources…a well worn theme with national.
How about the hospitals charge the cost of treating alcohol related injuries to the alcohol industry.
A fund could be set up paid for by the alcohol industry for hospitals to claim back the costs of treatment. Sort of like hospital do with accidents and the ACC
And some other ideas.
Stop all advertising for alcohol.
Start Public Education Programme and publicise heath warnings ( eg alcohol is a carcinogen)
More counselling services to assist with issues that caused alcohol addictions
Stop supermarket sales
Raise taxes – as has been done with cigarettes
Plain packaging of alcohol
Make it illegal for foreign companies to have a share in any alcohol sale in New Zealand – to make it harder for governments to be lobbied by massive corporate interests
Divest all government savings and funds from investing in liquor.
Cut funding for sports that continue to take drug money.
Aim to make alcohol ‘uncool’ as smoking has become.
And most importantly, deal to the economic system that makes people so in need of a class b drug.
Good idea DV, but the problem would still be there
Cinny
But thinking of it as a now problem where the hospital staff are working at the drunkface, and the financial problems that the booze causes the administration, a special tax on booze that gets paid to hospitals to aid staff and provide security and repair booze-nut damage would be good.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11770517
Then of course there is the treatment of booze damaged people who become a blot on society after they have spoiled their own lives and family relationships. That is a cost to hospitals and the health budget of the nation.
Then there is my observation that killing people with a car after you have had a drink or two is not treated as seriously as shooting, knifing someone personally. Recidivist drink drivers are a menace to society and there should be prison farms where they are confined and can work to help support themselves away from temptation where they should be able to have a happy life and society be safe instead of society being co-dependent.
The government’s support of the liquor industry…
I’m not sure you can call intensive regulation and the application of excise duty “support”…
1. Attempts to regulate the liquor industry properly have been frustrated by the government. The main recommendations from an enquiry were completed ignored.
2. Saturation advertising tends to make ‘citizens’ want alcohol.
Attitudes to cigarettes have changed without the marketing propaganda.
Attitudes to cigarettes have changed because these days people won’t put up with other people blowing smoke all over them and stinking the place up, and because cigarettes make you die – not because the government banned their advertising, much as the government might want to take the credit for it.
Also, cigarettes are a classic example of what happens when the government lets hand-wringers persuade it to over-regulate and over-tax a recreational drug: we’re now seeing armed robberies and a black market specifically for cigarettes. Let’s learn from that debacle and not follow the same path with alcohol.
Maybe people are also sick of drunks punching them and raping them.
Alcohol also kills people . It is a high level carcinogen and causes cirrhosis of the liver for starters.
I’m amazed you don’t think advertisements influence people. I wonder why corporates spend so much on them.
I sense you are just being a contrarian for the sake of it.
I don’t debate with climate change deniers and I won’t wSte my breath on someone talking the bs you are about alcohol.
Maybe people are also sick of drunks punching them and raping them.
We have a criminal justice system to deal with people who commit crimes. If you have complaints about it, that’s for another post because it’s another subject.
Alcohol also kills people . It is a high level carcinogen and causes cirrhosis of the liver for starters.
If you drink enough of it, sure. The same is true for a lot of food and drink, and the best advice is not to consume enormous quantities of things. Cigarettes are in an entirely different category: they’ll kill you when used as directed.
I’m amazed you don’t think advertisements influence people.
Of course advertisements influence people. I just think you’re overstating the level of influence.
PM did you know that at least a third of all police recorded offences are committed by an offender who has consumed alcohol prior to committing the offence.
But don’t let the facts get in the way of your argument.
Did you know that nearly half of all police recorded offences are committed by an offender who is Maori?
People with an agenda often misuse facts.
How are facts about alcohol and crime misused?
How are facts about alcohol and sexual abuse misused?
How are facts about alcohol and hospital usage being misused?
How are facts about alcohol and violence being misused?
Do you work for the liquor drug industry or have you benefited from their largesse?
How are facts about alcohol and crime misused?
See Cinny’s comment 1.4.2.
It contains an implied argument:
Premise: It is a fact that a third of crime is committed by people who are drunk.
Conclusion: therefore, alcohol is responsible for a third of crime and something must be done about alcohol.
My comment demonstrates the misuse by providing a more-obviously-wrong example of the fallacy:
Premise: it is a fact that nearly half of crime is committed by people who are Maori.
Conclusion: therefore, Maori are responsible for nearly half the crime and something must be done about Maori.
Do you often struggle to understand the meanings of people’s arguments?
Psycho Milt – the fallacy you describe is one I witness often around the council table. I wonder how well your explanation is received by Paul et al as providing it to my fellow councillors has been an exercise in futility; can those who use it, get their heads around the reasoning? I just don’t know. Maybe Paul’s response will show.
@ Robert.
PM is a ‘sophisticated drinker’ and ‘personally responsible’.
Far be it for others to lecture him on why we should tighten up on liquor laws because ‘others’ (probably a majority) aren’t as sophisticated as he is.
It’s probably pointless debating with a ‘respectable’ pisshead anyway.
I just saw one in the supermarket (a Nat MP of high profile). He came complete with hangers-on – one with a walkie talkie heading for the wine racks ffs!
I’m not sure what happens though when the entire population of people that consume alcohol claim to be ‘sophisticated drinkers’ and are ‘personally responsible’.
Probably not much different from now – it’s everybody else that’s the problem……….and we get to nowehere.
We once had a 6 o’clock swill. Not much has changed really except we’ve shifted it to the early hours of the morning
Thanks for providing an example of the “exercise in futility” Robert mentioned.
OK so let the police charge back to the alcohol cost fund too.
Too many links, but you can start with this one. An oldie but a goody on how the Government supports the alcohol industry..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7994823/Liquor-lobbyists-press-Collins
The government agreeing with industry lobbyists rather than anti-alcohol lobbyists over increased restrictions on the sale of alcohol also isn’t what I’d call “support.” If Collins had decided the other way and increased restrictions on the sale of alcohol, would that mean the government was “supporting” anti-alcohol activists?
yes.
Well, OK, but if we accept that definition of “support” I’m all in favour of the government “supporting” the liquor industry.
Also:
…another example of this country’s corrupt ‘elite’that defends international corporate power against the country’s citizens.
1. Who do you imagine is buying all this alcohol? Hint: it’s the country’s citizens.
2. Who doesn’t want greater restrictions/taxes on alcohol? The country’s citizens, for reason 1 above.
PM.. whom has done the enabling?
The National Party, they are the ones that lowered the drinking age and allowed alcohol in supermarkets.
Class B legal drug it is. Whom allows promotion of it via advertising etc… the national party. Whom does not want pot to be decrimilised because it might cut into the profits of their legal class B drug… the national party.
PM are you an enabler? Do you condone the violence, the rape, murder, the abuse of children and others and the abuse of hospital staff? The national party does, otherwise they would have taken action rather than making alcohol more accessible.
I wonder how many alcohol related beatings there will be this Christmas? Are you ok with that PM? If not what do you suggest, or are you reliant on the alcohol so are anti anything being done about it?
Remove all alcohol advertising
Remove alcohol from supermarkets
I’d like more done, but that could be a start.
Wasn’t JK the one giving away bottles of wine from his winery (supposed to be part of his blind trust)?
Yup to the woman he sexual assaulted by molesting her hair.
PM.. whom has done the enabling?
The National Party, they are the ones that lowered the drinking age and allowed alcohol in supermarkets.
Pedant corner: “Who” has done the enabling – no ‘m’ on the end.
Yes, those are among the few things the National Party has managed to get right, and much appreciated by the nation’s drinkers (ie, most of the country). How is that a problem?
Class B legal drug it is. Whom allows promotion of it via advertising etc… the national party. Whom does not want pot to be decrimilised because it might cut into the profits of their legal class B drug… the national party.
Er, the National Party and the overwhelming majority of the country’s voters. I don’t care much about the advertising, other than that, as a general principle we should avoid imposing restrictions on people unless there are compelling reasons for it, but there is no political party outside of the Muslim countries that could propose criminalising alcohol and expect to be elected to government.
PM are you an enabler? Do you condone the violence, the rape, murder, the abuse of children and others and the abuse of hospital staff? … etc
Cinny, have you stopped beating your wife?
PM i have been a beaten wife so pull your fucken head in for starts. Ever been kidnapped? How about having a gun or a knife held to your head? Have you been kicked in the face by steelcaps because you left a cup on the table.. I have. Yeah take the piss out of domestic violence why don’t ya.
And you know what more power to me for getting through that. I don’t usually bring that up to anyone, my story, but seeing you mentioned it above, i thought i would.
I don’t want to criminalize alcohol, I just want people to wake the fuck up at the damage it does and find some better ways to deal with what is obviously a massive problem in this country.
You can turn a blind eye all you want, but that still does naught to solve the issue.
So what do you suggest is done about NZs alcohol problem and the abuse A&E among others are suffering?
Don’t waste your time on him.
So what do you suggest is done about NZs alcohol problem and the abuse A&E among others are suffering?
For a start, we could stop blaming alcohol for the actions of people. “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been drunk” is no more relevant to consideration of someone’s actions than “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been angry/greedy/misogynist/you-name-it.”
Re the specific A&E problems, until we get people to stop thinking alcohol excuses their behaviour (which we’ve managed pretty successfully with drunk driving) we just have to fork out for security guards in A&E and make sure anyone who gets abusive or violent to paramedics or A&E staff gets prosecuted aggressively and sentenced accordingly. I’d be happy to see attacking or interfering with a paramedic or A&E worker counted as a severe aggravating factor at sentencing. It would be good if we started treating intoxication as an aggravating rather than mitigating factor as well.
So, Psycho Milt – no controls over the supply of alcohol or its promotion?
Would you regard other behaviour changing drugs in the same way you do alcohol ( “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been baked”)?
…no controls over the supply of alcohol or its promotion?
Wouldn’t go that far, but we already have plenty and certainly don’t need any more.
Would you regard other behaviour changing drugs in the same way you do alcohol ( “He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been baked”)?
Some drugs have more of a case to be made, eg they can induce hallucinations or psychosis. I’m dubious about disavowing agency even in those cases, though – if someone goes on a “P-fuelled rampage,” they’re pushing it uphill if they want to claim they had no idea that was a potential outcome of taking P.
“…we don’t need any more.” Agreed. Further regulation will drive the issue further into the public realm where individuals make their decisions. Do they need assistance to make those? Should we weaken the arm of the industry devoted to profiting from alcohol sales? It has to go somewhere.
Re: “…they want to claim they had no idea that was a potential outcome of taking P” – decisions made at that juncture are difficult to tie to responsibility, I reckon. It’s such a vexed topic, this. Best to go for the most effective actions with regard the hoped-for outcome.
“Re the specific A&E problems, until we get people to stop thinking alcohol excuses their behaviour (which we’ve managed pretty successfully with drunk driving) we just have to fork out for security guards in A&E and make sure anyone who gets abusive or violent to paramedics or A&E staff gets prosecuted aggressively and sentenced accordingly. I’d be happy to see attacking or interfering with a paramedic or A&E worker counted as a severe aggravating factor at sentencing. It would be good if we started treating intoxication as an aggravating rather than mitigating factor as well.”
I think that is a great idea, when i was a volunteer fireman a couple of us had to hold down a drunk aggressive driver who was trying to pull the ambos off a patient with a back injury. He had driven at pedestrians on the footpath, hit a power pole and badly injured one of his passengers.
Faaaaaaaaaaark!
” I’d be happy to see attacking or interfering with a paramedic or A&E worker counted as a severe aggravating factor at sentencing. It would be good if we started treating intoxication as an aggravating rather than mitigating factor as well.”
There’s something we agree on.
But then how would you deal with PM? – the ‘sophisticated drinker’?
You keep putting “sophisticated drinker” in quotation marks as though it were a claim I’d made, which it isn’t. That’s effectively a lie, and you should stop doing it.
Alcohol has an effect on the actions of people and so does anger, greed, misogyny etc.
The difference is that alcohol is something people consume (willingly or unwillingly) but anger, greed and misogyny are already inside them and outside influences can only change what is already there.
Alcohol consumption due to addiction or peer pressure, in my opinion is a mitigating factor in people’s harmful actions because it weakens willpower.
Interestingly, I know people who say that as free individuals they do what they like and yet drink excessively.
Some backup for the claim that alcohol affects willpower.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18453466
This is why policy should be made with the minimal of emotions.
I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be the latest from Venezuela.
“minimal (sic) of emotions”
Yes, because decisions based on emotions (love etc.) are always wrong, eh, Gosman.
Gee you sound like a cold hearted bastard Gosman no wonder our country is in such a mess with people like you living here
Cinny – you should know that the question, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” (regardless of what you have lived through) was always the standard example quoted by English teachers of a leading question, which condemns the replier even before he/she answers. That is the only reason Psycho Milt used it.
Your response is as unsatisfactory as the leading questions you asked.
In Vino (how apt is that name for this discussion in vino – in wine truth – sounds like someone enjoys the vino)
Are you beating your wife? How is one supposed to respond to that if one is unaware of such a quote to start with? Shame on me for not knowing everything, I’ve never heard of that ‘have you stopped beating your wife’ thing before, but hey i guess i’ve learned something.
Thanks for explaining it to me In Vino, at least someone took the time to do it
Maybe any one whom loves the booze would have found any of my questions and responses unsatisfactory. JS
The health professionals say they’ve had enough of boozers at the hospital clogging up the A&E and I say that putting security in there to help protect the staff is like putting a plaster on cancer.
Goodness me they are talking about the drunks again on the wireless this morning, it’s still topical and obviously a problem in NZ.
Yes Cinny, I do enjoy some vino without beating up medicos..
Didn’t mean to shame you, but you had come on so hard. Sorry.
For those who do the dugs, alcohol, violence, I suspect that restricting alcohol access in whatever way will achieve nothing. There are other social factors that have been wrecking us for many years – these people need hope and a belief in a positive future. Fiddling the price of alcohol will be an empty gesture.
I say that putting security in there to help protect the staff is like putting a plaster on cancer.
And increased restrictions on alcohol is like putting a carcinogenic plaster on a cancer. I proposed putting security guards in A&E as a temporary measure to provide some immediate relief; fixing the “cancer” involves refusing to blame alcohol for the actions of people. Your proposed solution would actually make the “cancer” worse, in that it puts the blame for people’s actions squarely on alcohol.
Apologies for the use of the phrase “Have you stopped beating your wife?” to reject your trap questions. It’s such a standard debating term I use it without thinking about how it would make a victim of domestic violence feel – which looks stupid now I write it down. I’ll think of another phrase to use in future.
PM & In Vino, thanks for your replies, there is something we can all agree on, too many are suffering due to booze and something needs to change. Its a matter i obviously feel passionate about, have seen too much misery due to booze across all walks of life. But hey i have learnt something from your comments, am always trying to look for a silver linings 😀
In the mean time over the silly season could you all do me a favour, if you see or hear abuse please take action, dont walk by or turn a blind eye. Because it does save lives, it really does and there are psycho abusive women out there as well as men, so many chicks go mental on the booze.
I honestly feel that many problems carry on because so many turn a blind eye, one time i dropped the glass bottle of milk i was carrying when walking home with him, he beat me on the side of the road, people just walked or drove past, no one stopped, and ive never felt so helpless as i did that day. And the really messed up thing, it was in a very well to do area, not all abusers are the stereotype people think they are.
I am lucky my abuser is dead, but i still react a bit strangely when certain things happen something i usually remember to keep in check. Apologies if my words were to strong in the comments above. Bit of a tender spot for me it is.
Okies better change the tune its getting a bit morbid.
Have a fun holiday season, the weather here today is stunning, may it be a wonderful summer where you are too. If you are ever in Motueka and see a chick chalking the sidewalk, come say hi.
Happy Solstice and Seasons Greetings 😀
I remember back then when the Supermarkets were first allowed to sell Liquor, restrictions regarding advertising and discounting were put in place.
Have they been repealed?
If you come to a supermarket you get bombarded with displays announcing “specials” and often the product is not separated from the food areas.
I was under the impression that there is also a time restriction and who is policing that?
This is like a sick joke, 100% access for all – the $ for the private business speaks louder than the carnage that is left for the taxpayer to pick up the costs. A true case of corporate welfare.
Cheers 😀
Rachel Stewart is all excited about the Silly Season….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11770187
Challenges blind worshipers at the altar of Christmas Consumerism to put the planet and their children’s future first….capitalism will be the end of us.
“It’s getting beyond urgent but, hey, let’s all have a cutesy cultural norm of a festive season. The economy depends on it, and the unequal wealth generated from it needs to be distributed to the usual suspects. Growth, growth, growth!
While you’re sitting around the tucker table and raising a glass to family, all misty-eyed about how much you care about future generations, raise the subject of just how serious climate change is becoming. How the Arctic ice is melting as quickly as the ice cream left out of the freezer by Uncle Bob. See how that conversation goes down.”
Rachel Stewart is superb.
We need more fearless writers like her to challenge what we are doing.
Here is another excellent excerpt.
‘Because here we are in 2016. The planet is burning in front of our eyes but we’re still going to buy those gifts, damn it! Because the world’s a grim and depressing place, so shut up and let me do this for strangers, as well as friends and family. I want to make them smile. Don’t judge me!
But I am going to judge you, and judge you hard. Strap yourself in.
If you’re not consciously thinking about this stuff, then you’re part of the problem.
Study after study shows that consumption now dwarfs population as the main environmental threat on earth.
Indeed, most of the extra consumption has so far been – but is rapidly changing – in wealthy countries that have long since stopped adding substantial numbers to their population. Like us.
Moreover, is it making anybody happy? Will those carefully wrapped presents in all their plastic glory keep anyone deeply delighted for more than an hour or two? Let’s be honest with ourselves.
Sure, I get that you want to please your kids but, really? Is this the way to go? Is there not an argument for opting out of this madness and telling them why?’
I totally agree with all the sentiments above, but I just love expensive champagne on the 25th as a celebration of the season. Cheers everyone.
garibaldi
I dont need champagne, I know that was just an expression of joy in having a festive season and I agree with you. We have dreadful problems to face but if we face them by becoming grim and grinding down and refusing to have laughter, friendship, attempting to be kind to our annoying relations and looking to come together and enjoy the others, what is worth living for?
Take the opportunity to give them a subscription to the New Internationalist magazine, to Greenpeace, a bar of chocolate. a lovely mat. a jute shopping bag all from Trade Aid, buy them a pack of Trade Aid tea from the supermarket.
But keep being human and kind, not human and slightly vicious as we can find ourselves being so quickly, and so differently than our own understanding of ourselves. Everyone has a nasty side that gets managed but be aware, and have a look at it after the gift-giving and do something next year to help us all in the near future, and look at our beautiful planet, the colour of flowers, the delicacy of leaves, the kindness of strangers, the innocence of little toddlers trying to walk and help to give them something to walk to.
Nice one greywarshark. Your last sentence… make sure we all do at least one of those things every day.
Have you opted out Paul – how did you do it?
“Have you opted out Paul – how did you do it?”
Sorry to butt in marty mars, but surely we should be asking ‘why did you opt in to this madness?’ rather than accept the default setting of ‘do christmas or forever be labelled as super grinch?
Rachel Stewart is asking (and I do well understand what reaction this provokes) for folk to think carefully about why they are buying into this seasonal shit.
Because, when you think about it…its really stupid.
Well I’m not a Christian or a follower of Santa. I do like the equinox and the coming together of family – so we celebrate ??? something anyway. The last 2 days the 2 year old has been playing a lot with a bit of cardboard on a small slope – doesn’t take much if the intent is there.
Partly opted out.
Stopped buying pap – instead buy food treats and clothes.
No Secret Santa
It helps that kids are now adult.
I admire the way Rachel Stewart challenges us to consider our behaviours.
We need more like her.
I just don’t buy stuff. But that’s agreed within my family. There’s nothing my family members are in need of. I do attend a family Christmas meal – though not always on Xmas Day – tis on the 24th this year. Is usually catered by my bro and his wife.
In return (kind of) I usually donate something to the City Mission (in December and during the winter) – there are people more in need of give-aways than my family.
I’m glad to read Stewart also doesn’t like secret Santa – I thought I was alone in that.
And, yes agreed again with Stewart – need to do more to work/fight for a non-consumerist type of society, and for a sustainable environment in the age of life-threatening climate change.
Pompous moralising consumes precious oxygen and produces greenhouse gases. Would you consider smirking smugly while I pick at my own special lentil trifle as an acceptable rebuke to my less virtuous relatives?
So, what’s your problem with considering the real world and how our delusional economic system affects it?
I just don’t think I’m pompous and selfrighteous enough. If I sat on a pointy stick and practised making ‘poffpoff’ noises would my rellies be more convinced of my rightness?
Actually, that’s exactly what you are as you dismiss reality and the damage that we’re doing by trying to use ad hominems. It’s the I’m right, you’re wrong BS that we always get from those too stupid to accept that the status quo is wrong.
I’ll bet your family’s looking forward to the annual Christmas lecture. Do you let them eat if they don’t pass the test?
And another ad hominem attack from a RWNJ.
This article explains how identity politics divides us into smaller groups with limited power. We need to UNITE as the exploited to tackle the problems of exploitation of both people and the environment. In the coming election year we need to spend less time arguing about subtle differences between the groups of the exploited and combine our resources more effectively.
Yesterday there was much media attention on Bill English’s “not a feminist” statement and Paula Bennett’s “most days a feminist” one. In the meantime, the still homeless, the Pike River families, the foreign students who have been defrauded, those trying to get on a waiting list for hospital operations, those looking after disabled family members 24/7, those struggling to pay rising rents, etc… remain in their desperate states. Instead of taking the attitude of ” well I don’t care about that because it doesn’t directly affect me” , we need to stick together and say ” this is yet another example of exploitation from a government which introduced a tax system which further advantaged the poor, and one which touts tourism as a great earner while encouraging farming practices which are rapidly degrading the very environment that attracts tourists. We need to call exploitation whatever the target.
Progressive parties forgot ( were too scared/too compromised ?) to focus on economic and class issues and instead focused on identity politics.
The result – 30 plus years of neoliberal economics , with all the ensuing social issues.
That ‘analysis’ is flawed paul – change your lens. The rise of neoliberalism is a direct result of leftish parties being SUCKED in to the economic debate – as if it is the be all and end all. You have it completely wrong and round the rong way too.
No link
Anyone in the thick of ‘identity politics’ knows it is never a them or us scenario and it isn’t the oppression olymipics either – those concepts are used to deride ‘identity politics’ whether by the right, the economic pointy heads, those that think class is everything or at least the main thing and other assorted lefties, righties and centreees and so on. Always reminds me of, “Hey guys let’s work as a team and do it my way”
Yes. And as I said yesterday, there’s more than one kind of feminism.
And critiques of some vague, misinformed notion of “identity politics” don’t get to define other people’s feminist views and politics.
The caricature of feminism that is invoked by anti-identity politics folk, is more that of “liberal feminism”
Judith Collins yesterday said her feminist influences were Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem – puts her in the ranks of liberal feminists. They tend to want equality within the existing capitalist and patriarchal system – usually through changes to the law.
Then there’s Eco-feminism,
socialist feminism,
anarcho-feminism,
radical feminism – though contrary to that definition, some radical feminists also agree with Marxist critiques of society.
and more. Some people probably are more social democratic feminists.
Basically, feminism tends not to stand out on its own separated from other kinds of politics. Feminists also tend to have other political views that are integrated with their feminist values and politics.
The missing link to article quoted above.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/12/18/its-not-racism-vs-anti-racism-its-capitalism-vs-socialism
Capitalism was built on the backs (and lands and resources) of black and brown bodies, as well as those of the white working classes.
Racism, initially in the form of imperialism/colonisation and chattel slavery, was intertwined with the growth of capitalism. And that legacy has been repeated from generation to generation.
I wrote a bit about that, as happened in the US, in my 2 part review of the TV mini-series “Roots”.
I commented on that historical legacy in Part Two:
Basically, if your into the oppression olympics, it can be argued that imperialism and colonisation and chattel slavery preceded and enabled capitalism – that it laid the foundation for capitalism.
Nice – interesting review.
“This results in George being sold to an Englishman, and taken to England for over 20 years, leaving behind his wife Matilda (Erica Tazel) and several children.”
That simple sentence sums up so much of the destruction of people, their families and all they hold important. So much contained within one sentence.
I always thought slavery/racism against POC, was designed in those times, to ensure profits for the South. When the war finished the profits had to continue as best they could thus wage slavery and the various other ways to get work from someone for nothing began in earnest.
Thanks, Marty.
Yes, chattel slavery (where the slave and his/her life was totally owned ) was replaced by wage slavery – but also by cheap prison labour, of which African-Americans made up a high proportion of the imprisoned. That prison labour was a significant part of the building of US capitalism.
And that legacy continues today with the high proportion of African-Americans in 21st century prisons.
And that destruction of families and things of value in people’s lives was a huge consequence of the the drive for wealth and power by the US dominant classes.
Weka linked to a post by Stephanie Rodgers, Public Service Association, last night…
https://overland.org.au/2016/12/this-is-what-solidarity-looks-like/
….saying pretty much the same thing.
I agree with all that is being said…but have doubts that the organisation SR works for actually follows the same philosophy.
We all have a ‘group’ we identify with, whose particular needs dictate the lens through which we see and hear a conversation.
Wearing our ‘disability community hats’ rather than our ‘pay family carers of disabled people’ hats we attended a meeting in Auckland a while ago organised by PSA and Auckland Disability Law.
PSA were very concerned about the rights of care workers employed by disabled people using individulalised Funding. Employers could just ‘fire’ a worker for little or no good reason and hence these workers’ rights needed ‘protecting’ from their disabled employers.
PSA, it seemed, had not considered the vulnerability of a disabled person who employs someone in good faith, then discovers they are not suitable for the work. These workers are coming into the disabled person’s home and performing care tasks of an extremely intimate nature and PSA seemed to be insisting that if there are problems then the disabled employer should be reasonable and give that employee another chance and let them work out their notice.
I am not sure that I was able to explain just how unreasonable and potentially dangerous this stance was for the person with the disability…forced to use IF, and hence become an employer, by virtue of the fact that the services through Contracted Providers were so poor and inflexible.
For all the PSA, and other unions have their roots firmly in the political struggle for workers rights, it had not occurred to PSA that Government policy had created the situation where a union was defending the rights of workers against people with significant impairments dependent of others for their most basic of care.
That looks to be yet another instance of divide-and-rule, the thing that neoliberal governments are so good at. The problem seems to be the IF model, which pits the PSA, whose obligation is to advocate for workers, against the disabled and their advocates who must take the part of the employers. Solidarity would involve collectively challenging the IF model, but the disabled themselves might not have a unified attitude here – some might feel as if the IF model allows their concerns to be taken seriously at long last, while others might see it as making demands they are ill-equipped to meet. As long as people are stuck with the IF model, the next best solution is for both sides to actually listen to each other, avoid talking past each other and engage in good faith negotiation. You do not want workers thrown onto the scrap-heap, but you do not want the disabled employers being terrified of visits from their so-called employees either.
“You do not want workers thrown onto the scrap-heap, but you do not want the disabled employers being terrified of visits from their so-called employees either.”
No, you do not want disabled people terrified of visits from their caregivers, nor do you want carers thrown on the scrap heap.
The caregiver is secondary in this situation.
The thing that gets me is the latest bid by, I think PSA, to have guaranteed hours of work for home based carers. The very nature of the work is casual and often finite. If a carer want set hours and stable work and a predictable future then they should go and work in one of the hundreds of residential facilities.
There is no shortage of care work, be it in facilities or private homes, for well trained, competent, honest, reliable and above all respectful carers.
IF was born out if what was called ‘Discretionary Funding’, and what is known elsewhere as ‘Personal Budget” Most suited for those who need more flexibility around what is done for them and when.
It soon became the default option for those with high and very high and complex care needs…the clients that the Contracted providers can decline to support…usually because they do not have staff with the right level of expertise…and hiring such workers would undermine their profit margin.
It would be an absolutely fantastic scheme for many disabled people if there were not so many conditions on how one can use the funds.
Ideally, the Miserly of Health should have said… “here’s $1500 per week….sort your own shit out and bother us no more.” But no, they just had to say you can’t pay this person and you must do that…the whole scheme is unreasonably complex.
Then the unions jump in to protect ‘at risk’ workers and the very people who need a flexible way of sourcing the care that is vital to them are too scared to take up IF in case they end up in the Employment Court because they had to fire some fuckwit who turned up in the morning off their face from the previous night’s partying.
Even the attempt to modify IF through what is called “Enhanced IF” has largely been a failure. I would put up a link to the evaluation report, but I can’t be bothered.
You see, it’s all very well saying “avoid talking past each other and engage in good faith negotiation.” when it is the person with the disability who is going to be forced to compromise…again.
And on a personal note…I was unimpressed to read that unions were concerned that if family carers were allowed to be paid as any other person doing the same work it would take employment away from those currently doing the work.
Again…one group fighting for their rights not being supported, in fact being actively opposed by another group purporting to be defending the rights of others.
It all gets very complicated…
one group fighting for their rights not being supported, in fact being actively opposed by another group purporting to be defending the rights of others.
It all gets very complicated…
Everything you say highlights the difficulties involved in establishing real solidarity, especially given that the two groups you are talking about – disabled people and their caregivers – both have very limited rights in the first place.
Kiwi Ironman told kicking with Richie McCaw ‘tarnishes his achievements’
TVNZ, Monday, Dec. 19, 2016
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/other/kiwi-ironman-told-riding-lance-armstrong-tarnishes-his-achievements
Ironman competitor Cameron Brown has been attacked on social media after publicly supporting disgraced footballer Richie McCaw.
McCaw arrived in Auckland on Sunday and met with Brown for a kick around in an Auckland park.
Brown took his son on the ride and posted a photo of the trio on Facebook, to which he was heavily trolled for his involvement with McCaw.
“Well I am disappointed for you Cam in my view it tarnishes your achievements and he shouldn’t be validated by association with you. You grafted hard for everything you achieved you should protect that,” one follower commented.
“Sorry Cam. But he was a relentless cheat. The way he and his team-mates ruined our memory of the 2011 RWC final with his cheating is possibly even worse than the way they cheated their opponents,” added another. “Cheat not to be looked up to.”
However, not all were bad, with many people simply commenting on the meeting as “awesome”.
Brown spoke of his admiration for McCaw on NewstalkZB, in spite of the ex-captain’s low reputation in France.
“I watched him for 10 years competing in the All Blacks and it was quite incredible to kick with him,” Brown said. “I’d never met him before so it was pretty special. My little boy’s getting into rugby now so I took him along and Richie was great. I think he’s probably just trying to forget about the past and move on. And hopefully rugby fans can forgive him but probably there’s a lot of people—especially in France—that can’t.”
However, the reaction to Brown and McCaw’s meeting drew severe reaction online, resulting in the Ironman withdrawing from a scheduled interview with Mike “Contra” Hosking this morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7C6bTHyC0U
build a bridge, AB 8 Fr 7 end of story Ab RWC champions 2011 and just to cement the point likewise 2015, including 60 pt drubbing of Fr
Not the end of the story re 2011. The French have not forgotten, and neither have people in New Zealand who actually care for the integrity of the game.
The “drubbing” of France in that disgraceful capitulation last year was nothing less than a joke. You noticed perhaps that France did not even compete?
Is Prince William in line for that 8:30-to-noon spot at NewstalkZB?
Actually, compared to Leighton Smith, the prince is a silver-tongued devil.
Tribute to Michael Phelps at the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
Loud applause, whistling, clapping….
GARY LINEKER: Uh, firstly, er, Your Highness, er, I’m sure you’d like to say a few words on behalf of everyone here, in fact everyone in the country.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Thank you Gary. Uh, it’s a huge honour for me to be here this evening, ahhh, on what has been a, an incredible memorable year for, for sports. Ahhhh, it’s also a particular privilege to be here tonight Michael, ahhhh, to give you your lifetime achievement award. Ahhh, you’re one of the greatest sporting icons, ahh, this world has ever had and, ahh, your twenty-three gold medals —never mind all the other colours!— [supportive cluck from woman in audience]…. ahhhmm, uh, pales into, uh, sheer superhuman history.
Uh, you should be so proud of your achievements and it’ll be many, many years before, if ever, anyone stands here again and calls you the greatest, um, athlete in history. So, many, many congratulations and hopefully your retirement gives someone else a chance now!
Laughter and applause…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwCMCYMZpIc
Fake news is a genuine problem that needs addressing. But jeez, this proposed “solution” looks worse than the problem.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/german-fake-news-fines_us_585843d5e4b03904470a1dfb
The problem is with those who are sucked into the discussion, thus promoting the narrative!
A formless void regulates personal force fields
food for thought
“For the first time ever, scientists have observed the light spectrum of antimatter. ALPHA, an international collaboration based at CERN, made history by capturing a measurement of the optical spectrum of the 1S-2S transition in trapped antihydrogen. Progressing scientific techniques in this area will lead to more precision comparisons of antihydrogen and hydrogen, further illuminating the mysterious study area of antimatter. With this breakthrough from the ALPHA collaboration, a new era of research begins.”
http://inhabitat.com/scientists-observe-light-spectrum-of-antimatter-for-the-first-time-ever/
Along a similar vein. Astronomers discover galaxies:
There’s exiting stuff being found through science.
And also this I saw on Al Jazeera news today:
“New Jet Stream discovered below earth’s crust
Basically, earth’s magnetic field has been weakening over the centuries, and that field protects earth from the sun’s heat.
furthermore, eventually there will be a polarity reversal – the magnetic characteristics of the 2 poles changing place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txwk6N6UoIE
‘Information’ published by those who control it should be regarded the same as that which is published from war zones and by financial entities
eh wot
The eighth day of Christmas and another quote on Friendship.
The eighth day of Christmas is 1st of January – the 12 days start on Christmas Eve
Thanks but I am just using it as a theme so using the phrase loosely.
A picture of the state of poverty in NZ from someone who knows:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320931/departing-city-missioner-says-poverty-'a-scandal‘
The real legacy of John Key – to be ably continued by his anointed successor.
There was an interview on the radio with some rich ‘style queen’. She has been paid lots and lots of public money for the last 8 years to tell poor young people how to dress to get a job. She goes along to those boot camps which Paula B started and which young unemployed people have to go on or lose their benefit. They have no evidence base but are a good way to privatise public money. She is one who personally profits by getting paid some exorbitant rate.
I know some young people who have been on these camps. They are hard work and there is often misery and bullying. They endure them because they have no choice, but also there is that promise of a job at the end.
But there is never a job at the end and getting back on the benefit can be another battle. And instead of having quality clothing and styled hair as recommended by the rich lady they are doomed to WINZ vouchers for a cheap pair of trackpants at the Warehouse.
Watch the film ‘I Daniel Blake.’
Heartrending.
Yes, it covers what so many people in NZ also face every day.
Here are the links Ethica….http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201828512/nzdf-pays-thousands-to-stylists-for-grooming-tips
(I was listening peripherally this morning and thought perhaps the Natrad crew were having a joke.)
And Stuff did it too…http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/87830421/rhoakls-angela-stone-paid-15000-by-defence-force-for-styling-lessons
If you paid $7.60 per minute, I might be persuaded to make like the Fairy Godmother…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ2wnpdrSSo
That grooming woman was paid more for an hour than beneficiaries earn in a week. How could she possibly understand?
More drama about whether the FBI asking for a warrant to look for new Clinton e-mails days before the election was even legal or violated the Fourth Amendment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-subpoena-that-rocked-the-election-is-legal-garbage-attorney-say_us_58597cd9e4b03904470b0633
From the link:
Unbelievable though it is, that is exactly what appears to have happened. Such criteria means that everyone of us who sends an email to anyone on our private servers – which most of us do on almost a daily basis – is therefore potentially guilty of committing crimes. I wonder sometimes if that traitorous act on the part of FBI Director, James Coney and his pals will eventually bring down the Trump administration.
Thanks for keeping us informed Andre.
John ponytail Key’s legacy.
The scandal of poverty.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320931/departing-city-missioner-says-poverty-'a-scandal‘
The indicators of increasing community stress and displacement are all there. These stories are not going away, they are getting more frequent and worse and the Key/English National government have produced these outcomes, there is no doubt about it.
I wonder if this is their form of collateral damage in that they saw the once great New Zealand as too fair and were determined to bring it into line with a decadent and gross America.
Imagine what next winter is going to be like for some people in this country…
It’s what happens when the government gives all of the countries wealth to rich people. A few people become very well off while the rest suffer. We’ve seen this throughout history and the inevitable result is the collapse of society.
The pony tail saga seems to get you rather excited Paul
Well you don’t often see a pervy PM break cover.
Here we go. The circle is complete and the true intent behind the state house sell off becomes apparent.
Private landlords lobby to buy state houses…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11770997
Oh, they want to “play a part in helping their community”. I bet they do. Increasing their portfolios and becoming increasingly wealthy would just be a fortuitous byproduct. Bless them.
Wensleydale: “play their part in helping themselves to the community” more likely. Bless them.
How Brexit, Trump are reactions to neoliberalism’s failure: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-brexit-trump-syndrome/
Both are more likely a reaction to progressive leftism’s failure to protect citizens and their western culture.
That’s some nice shanking of Trump and his secretary of state before leaving office.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38387525
Well done Mr Obama.
People working to restore damaged waterways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH5htujLpQ8
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11769372
Bloody good work doing that – kia kaha! Thanks for the links
The media are messed up, here is a very good example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrsJoj3wYL8
If you google “glendon scott crawford” plenty of mainstream media hits come up like these…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/19/death-ray-plot-muslims-obama-glendon-scott-crawford-new-york
http://time.com/4002184/kkk-member-death-ray/
I don’t see that there’s much to complain about, given he was caught long before he actually harmed anyone, and he gets called a white supremacist and KKK member very prominently.
More fucken exploitation by corrupt businesses enabled by corrupt policies:
It’s because of shit like this that is why we’re seeing increasing poverty in NZ.